Henkel joins Alupro’s UK recycling program to enhance aerosol can circularity

15 Aug 2023 --- Henkel is participating in the Alupro-led UK Aerosol Recycling Initiative, which aims to increase aerosol recycling rates up to 50% by 2030.

The initiative was launched in September 2022 and, in April this year, Alupro released its “Roadmap to increasing UK aerosol recycling” – a long-term strategic vision to drive a widespread uplift in national capture and recycling rates.

The group states that aerosols are vulnerable and get left behind in recycling schemes such as the UK Deposit Return Scheme due to perceived safety issues, multiple materials and consumer confusion.

“Left unmanaged, these factors could lead to high modulated fees and costs for brands choosing to use metal aerosols, damage claims around aerosol sustainability and ultimately damage demand for the product,” stresses Alupro.

Tom Giddings, executive director at Alupro, says: “As a world-leading solutions provider, partnering with Henkel will prove invaluable to the UK Aerosol Recycling Initiative as we continue to drive change in the aluminum packaging industry.”

“Following the launch of our roadmap earlier this year, the initiative has continued to expand and develop. Behind the scenes, we’re making important progress toward the next phase of our plan and we’re excited to continue working alongside our partners to maximize the recycling of aluminum packaging.”

Henkel’s portfolio includes well-known hair care products, laundry detergents and adhesives, such as Loctite, Jeyes, Schwarzkopf and Dylon Dyes, some of which use aluminum aerosol packaging.

“At Henkel, we’re committed to contributing to a cleaner, more sustainable future and fostering innovation to embrace the circular economy. Together, alongside businesses from across the aerosol value chain, we can work to make a lasting impact, promoting responsible consumption and best practice recycling,” says Claudia Berto, head of R&D operations for the UK & Ireland at Henkel.

The UK Aerosol Recycling Initiative is targeting a national aerosol recycling rate of 50% by 2030.Aerosol recycling roadmap
Alupro is an industry funded, not-for-profit organization made up of and representing the UK’s aluminum packaging industry. Its Aerosol Recycling Initiative roadmap identifies and tackles five key challenges preventing higher recycling rates.

It includes improving data quality through a vigorous sampling of materials at MRFs, driving an uplift in curbside volumes by establishing collection consistency, investing in new pathways to treat non-empty containers, increasing consumer education through standardized labeling, and improving the overall design of aerosol containers to optimize the value in recycled materials.

Furthermore, research carried out by Resource Futures on behalf of the UK Aerosol Recycling Initiative for the development of the roadmap highlights that an estimated 650 million metal aerosols are used in the UK each year, with over 80% of these likely to be consumed in households.

The report found that deodorants and air fresheners were the most prominent type of aerosols by weight. Additionally, 56% of non-ferrous aerosols and 63% of ferrous aerosols were found in the recycling stream.

New sustainability landscape
The roadmap also presents analysis from local authorities and in-depth interviews with key industry experts, with the aim of clarifying best practices to maximize capture rates in a post-EPR, post-DRS landscape.

“Our work has shown what could be done to achieve higher aerosol recycling rates in the UK. Our vision is a world where consumers recycle all their empty aerosols responsibly in their curbside system, with confidence that this will result in their packaging waste being collected, sorted, recycled and transformed into something new. It will take long-term, sustained collaboration to achieve this vision,” the initiative details.

Earlier this year, Henkel launched a low-temperature cleaner for aluminum beverage cans.

“There is strong demand from brand owners and consumers alike for recyclable packaging and packaging made from recycled materials, which are driving higher global demand for aluminum cans,” Emily Mullins, director for Market Srategy Packaging Surface Treatment for Henkel Metals, told Packaging Insights.

Edited by Radhika Sikaria

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